Increasing incidence of Gram-positive sepsis in cancer patients.

A review of the agents causing septicemia in cancer patients during a nine-year period (1968--76) revealed that Gram-positive organisms (especially S aureus) have become the most frequent isolates during the last two years. This unanticipated increase (P less than 0.001) in the number of Gram-positive isolates could not be related to horizontal transmission nor to changes in patient characteristics or therapy.